A wanderer's blog...“A man can be himself only so long as he is alone; if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom; for it is only when he is alone that he is really free. ” - Arthur Schopenhauer

Saturday, October 15, 2011

TITANIC in Melbourne!!! 2010-10-13

Here on another mission again…

This time my mission finished way earlier than what i expected, so i have ample time till my flight back to Adelaide. Hence i walked around the CBD for some photo shooting, it’s a rainy day, something new for me, as i have not seen the busy Melbourne CBD in rain particularly in the morning where commuters were scurrying to their work place to avoid the rain.

It’s a foggy morning…without the right light, everything appeared dull, haha. Nothing really worthy of shooting.

Went back to the laneways famous for graffiti, in the overcast day, the colours of the graffiti stand up evenly and pretty well, hence a few shots :). Quite like the contrast of the pure white old scooter in front of the red demonic like graffiti of the shop, haha.

The above 2 photos just showed how creative graffiti can be and somehow appeared to fit with the doors and windows of the shops!!!

Where else have i not been…in interest of time, i went to the Melbourne Museum which has a pretty good reputation for its display.

This cube was another interesting art outside next to the museum.

This photo turned out very well because of the balance in colours, mainly dark, brown and green colour. Most importantly, the umbrella matched too!!!

A relaxing sight in the CBD!!!

Another relaxing sight in the CBD!!!

This church like building was opposite the Melbourne Museum, hence i step in to sneak peak but didn’t dare to go further, lol.

Yes, Melbourne Museum, and guessed what!!! there’s a UNIQUE SPECIAL display – the artifact exhibition from the TITANIC!!!What a coincidence!!! I decided since i have so much time and the artifacts retrieved from the Titanic would be interesting, i’ll give it a go.

It’s not that expensive to go in with a concession, haha. There’s quite a queue to get in, and it’s organized in such a way that there’s time slot for you to go in, so that it doesn’t get congested inside the “Titanic”!!!

Frankly, besides the movie Titanic, i don’t know much about the actual Titanic except that it sank because of an unexpected huge iceberg! Many people died… Somehow, the few pieces of exhibition before entering the “Titanic” excites and stimulate my urge to know more!!! I didn’t know that there’s so much stories, happenings and facts that relate to the Titanic. It even has something to do with Australia!!! And actually people from many parts of the world!!!

Getting into the “Titanic”, the entry represent a replica of the Titanic ship. Unfortunately, STRICTLY NO PHOTOS inside, so from here onwards, there’s no photos to help with my descriptions.

I must say that i was totally amazed at the things i saw and news & pieces i read, every bit was just as exciting!!! The tour was divided into few sections, the first the building and construction of the ship, how did the idea came upon, who was behind it, the machines, the people, how and where constructions took places. All i can say is the facts are quite interesting that one has to see for himself!!!

The other parts which i can’t really remembered in the correct order involved a section of the replica of the rooms, the doors, the different rooms and services available to the people onboard. Bunks for poor peasants, better beds for the affordable, really nice elegant bedroom for the rich. What was interesting was to look at the artifacts recovered that showcase all the kitchen cutleries, the accessories etc that was designed for different class of people. Poor peasants that can afford a ticket have only limited services and everything look nothing special, where as the stuff for the rich were all unique, special designs, special services, the rich can use the gym, can smoke in a nice room, delicate flower vases, the delicate liners, marble pots, etc. Reading and seeing them with your own eyes really makes a huge difference!!! Some stuff for the rich were imported from China, India…etc. Even the meal menu was so different!!!

There’s also a section where they showcase who were the people known to board the ship, of course those that were well known, like businessmen. Why they board the ship…etc. All these facts were very interesting to read which you don’t find on wikipedia, haha.

Then comes the section about the crash and the sink of the ship. They actually put up a huge piece of ice maintained at the temperature of the sea when the ship sank for people to feel how cold was the ocean!!! It’s also quite cool to see what they pull up from the base of the ocean of the pieces of the ship, huge steel, huge this and that of the ship that looks rusty, haha.

One of the most interesting fact that i didn’t know about was, how many people died and who died!!! Have a look at how many people onboard were rich wealthy people, middle class men, how many workers, how many poor peasants. Then have a look at which class of people survived most!!!! It was shocking to me, that most that survived were the rich wealthy people, and the rest some middle class people while most of the workers, the poor people all were DEAD!!!! What a sarcastic fact to me!!! I meant the rich wealthy people was the least number of people onboard where as the workers and poor peasants made up majority of the people on the ship, yet the minority rich people were the ones to survive most!!! It just meant that at that time, those rich people were given priority to board the boats!!! I was also given a person’s name before entry and i am supposed to look up for his name on the list of names of survivors and dead. Unfortunately, mine was a guy doing some specialty job, and he was among the many unfortunate ones.

There’s also details on how those people survived the sank, how long before the tragic news spread, how long before they were found, etc. Another interesting thing was the people that survived!!! their stories and their descendants, and if i did not recall wrongly the last Titanic survived person died a few years ago.
One can also read the role of Australia in the whole Titanic history, there were quite a few of Aussies that board the ship and what happened to them…etc.

All in all, i was completely blow away by the interesting facts and artifacts of the Titanic revealed to me throughout the whole exhibition!!! Didn’t regret it at all that i even paid to buy the photos that i was shot inside one of the replica used for the Titanic movie, lol. Definitely WORTH THE MONEY!!!

Remembered this famous beautiful grand stairs with the clock in the titanic movie where the main actress was walking down?? haha, the picture unfortunately didn’t turned out as good as i want it to be, lousy photographer, lol.

Didn’t want this photo, but to get the 1st photo of me, i have to buy the next photo, choosing between this one above or me standing in front of the propeller of the Titanic. But it looks too odd for me with the propeller, so i opted for this one above.

While wondering around the museum after i came out of the exhibition, i suddenly realized that i remembered my flight time wrongly and that i only have 1-2 hrs left to catch the flight, i quickly ran down the street, caught the tram, caught the bus, and JUST IN time for the flight!!! To make it worse, i was asked to be checked for explosive when i was rushing in the lousy tiger terminal!!! I was like WTF!!! LUckily i can still make it …..phew…never again i told myself!!!!